The Bardstown Netherland Murders Were A Gang Initiation, According To Anonymous Inmate

In 2014, the brutal double-homicide of 48-year-old Kathy Netherland and her 16-year-old daughter, Samantha, rocked the town of Bardstown, Kentucky. Their bodies were discovered by Kathy’s father on April 22 after she failed to show up for work at Bardstown Elementary School, where she worked as a special education teacher. According to death certificates obtained by WAVE 3, Kathy had been shot multiple times, and Samantha had been bludgeoned in the head. Both had sustained knife wounds to their necks.

In the four years following the Netherland murders, Kentucky State Police have identified no suspects or possible motive, but during the season finale of Oxygen's docu-series "The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers," reporter Stephanie Bauer spoke with an anonymous prison inmate who claimed Kathy and Samantha were killed during a gang initiation.

When Bauer pressed him for details about how he knew it was gang initiation, he said, "Well, I know they was tortured. I know that they were tied to their chairs. I know that one of 'em had her throat slit. They was stabbed, and one was shot. I know that trinkets were taken as trophies."

The inmate also said a cellphone jammer was placed at the Netherlands' front door to "kill all the signal in the house."

To further investigate the inmate's claims, Bauer and retired homicide detective Dwayne Stanton met with Kathy's daughter and Samantha's sister, Holly Netherland Williams. While Holly was unable to confirm the inmate's claims, she said his theories about the gang initiation and trophies being taken from the crime scene were possible.

When asked about the cellphone jammer, Holly said, "This is news to me. I mean, that would explain why they didn't get a call off because I know my mom always had a phone in her hand. ... Samantha, she ... I'd like to think that if something happened to Mom that she would have tried to get a call off. ... She would have had [a cellphone]."

Another detail that struck Holly was the alleged torture that her mother and sister endured during the attack.

"I have been asked by the police about the relative location of chairs," said Holly. "This is one of those things that I'm not comfortable talking about. How they died is not one of the main things I want to think about."

This new information has not been confirmed by law enforcement, but the Kentucky State Police say they are investigating the inmate’s claims.

To learn more about the Netherlands and the search for Crystal Rogers, watch "The Disappearance of Crystal Rogers" on Oxygen.

[Photo: Twitter]